Detroit resolves 'harmless data error' affecting some precincts

Detroit election officials on Tuesday morning addressed a data error at some precincts that resulted in the electronic voting record, called the ePollbook, flagging some in-person ballots as having the same ballot number as already issued absentee ballots.

The Detroit Department of Elections said the issue was a "harmless data error" that was resolved quickly. The number of precincts initially affected by the error was not immediately clear, but all precincts have been instructed on how to deal with the error so as to allow in-person voters the chance to cast a ballot, according to the city elections department.

"All safeguards preventing a voter from voting more than one ballot are in place since polls opened at 7 a.m. and those safeguards remain in place," the elections department said in a statement.

The Michigan Secretary of State's office echoed that reassurance, saying that no voter has been able to vote twice.

"At all points in the process, voters were able to vote and they were only able to vote one ballot," said Jake Rollow, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson's office.

More:It’s Election Day: Michigan voters head to polls; 1.7M absentee ballots returned

The ePollbook system began flagging ballots Tuesday morning in some precincts when ballot numbers for in-person ballots were generated that were identical to absentee ballot numbers that had been already issued, the city said. The ePollbook is a laptop containing a static copy of the registered voters for that precinct and indicators showing whether the voters have already voted.

In each situation, the individual was listed in the ePollbook as not having voted, but the ballot number generated for them caused the ePollbook to flag it.

"The ePollbook system recognized the duplicate ballot numbers and issued the error message so that no two ballots would have the same ballot number," the city's statement said.

Election inspectors in affected precincts eventually were instructed to place a letter near the in-person ballot number on both the paper ballot and in the ePollbook to differentiate it from the absentee ballot, according to the Detroit elections department.

Before the letter system was deployed in those precincts, some precincts switched over to the paper version of their poll book copy to issue ballots, according to the elections department.

In other cases,in-person voters whose ballots were flagged as matching an absentee ballot Tuesday morning were asked to vote provisional ballots, which usually require voters to provide further proof of identification or residency to the clerk's office.

In the cases of individuals who filled out provisional ballots because of the ePollbook error, their ballots will be counted as a standard ballot, Rollow said.

Any voters who left the precinct because of the error can still return and cast a ballot in-person, Rollow said.

More:Why early vote returns might produce a 'mirage' on election night in Michigan

Former President Donald Trump attempted to amplify the issue in Detroit on his Truth Social account Tuesday.

"The Absentee ballot situation Detroit is REALLY BAD," Trump wrote on his social media network. "People are showing up to Vote only to be told, 'sorry, you have already voted.'"

Benson, a Democrat who is seeking re-election against Republican Kristina Karamo, responded to Trump's post on Twitter Tuesday afternoon.

"This isn’t true," Benson wrote in a tweet direct at Trump, who was banned from Twitter in January 2021. "Please don’t spread lies to foment or encourage political violence in our state. Or anywhere."

eleblanc@detroitnews.com